Automatic electric igniting device



(No Model.)

T. W. LANE. AUTOMATIG ELECTRIC IGNITING DEVICE. No. 444,896. Patented Jan. 20, 1891 \mu 1 um Y Eiai \Y/itq EESEIE. Iqv'EqtUY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS \V. LANE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE ELECTRIC GAS LIGHTING COMPANY, OF MAINE.

AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC lGNlTlNG DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 444,896, dated January 20, 1891.

Application filed June 13, 1889, Serial No 314,098. (No modeld To a, whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. LANE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Electric Gas- Burners, of which the following is a specification.

-The invention relates to improvements in such automatic electric gas-burners as are described in Letters Patent to E. E. Bailey, of May 1, 1888, No. 8823M), and will be more clearly understood by reference to the accompanying drawings,(twice enlarged,) in which- Figure 1 represents a front elevation of such burners as my improvements relate to. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation showing the pawl-carrying bar and its connection with the armature, with one pole of the electromagnet removed. Fig. 3 shows the arrangement of the pawl adjusted to the block, the pawl-carrying bar and its controlling-spring not being shown, Fig. & is a detail showing the base and a part of the gas-pillar, pawlcarrying bar and pawl-spring, and block attached to the gas-cock, all showing the relati ve position when the armature is down upon the magnet. Fig. 5 is a sectional detail showing how the movable electrode is loosely and movably socketed in the pawl-carrying bar.

Similar letters and figures refer to similar parts.

The object of my invention is to so construct and adjust the pawl-carryin g bar with the armature that this bar may be capable of more extended movement than the armature, thus securing a suflicient and certain movement to the gas-cock, and yet avoiding the removal of the armature from the field of the magnets by too great a sweep in its full vibrations. I accomplish this as follows: I aifix to the pawl-carrying bar g the angleiron 1, and connect the armature with this at oby means of the levei pin 2, loosely inserted in the free end of said angle-iron. I also make the recess somewhat wider than the thickness of the armature, and I may also slightly reduce the thickness of the armature at this point in order to permit the movement of the bar 9 to be more extended than that of the armature.

A further object of my invention is to do away with the V-shaped projection hitherto used to return the pawl h to a perpendicular position, and to obtain that resulti. 6., that return to perpendicularby different means, securing several advantages of construction and operation. I accomplish this by omitting altogether the V-shaped projection, inserting in a slight slot or recess at l in the pawl-carrying bar g a fork-spring 5, extending diagonally acrossg to a point 6, and then so bent or constructed as to contain and control the pawl 71', so that when the armature f is attracted,causing the pawl h to fit into the block 7; and again released,this spring 5 will press against one of the prongs of and restore to perpendicular the pawl 71.

The elements of my burner are a gas-pillar at, having usually a lava tip a, an upper and a lower platform I) and b to support the devices, a magnet e, resting vertically upon the lower platform an armaturef, pivoted loosely upon the pillar at f, within the magnetic field, and slotted at to permit a pawl-carrying bar g, also slotted at 9 to move parallel with the pillar a, said pawl-carrying bar bein g connected with the armature by the leverpin 2,projeeting from the armature and loosely inserted in an angle-piece 1, which is affixed to said paw-*l-carrying bar, the armature also being held normally apart from the magnet by the s1 ring Q. An angle-iron 1 is affixed to the pawl-carrying bar g, and a pin 2, affixed to the armature, plays loosely in and controls this angle-iron at 3, thus enabling the movement of the armature to effect a greater movement of the pawl carrying bar g. A movable electrode Z, socketed in the bar g, as shown in Fig. 5, is held by a helical spring on normally in contact at the burner-tip with a fixed electrode 12, which is there connected with a wire 0, in circuit with the helix of the magnet, which movable electrode is so con nected with the pawl-carrying bar g that a full downward sweep of the armature will separate the two electrodes. Upon the inside of the pawl-carrying bar is a small lever 71, which, when said bar is depressed, fits into a block 7t, attached to the gas-cock, which is made to open and close with a to-and-fro motion. This block has two tooth-like rev by, and the pawl It will be carried by the car-- cesses It 10 one being deeper than the other, so that when the current is admitted to the magnet from the battery by the ordinary push-button connection the magnet attracts the armature, the armature presses down the pawl-carrying bar, bringing the pawl into the deeper recess and thereby bringing the way in the gas-valve into line with the pillar-tube,

while at the same time the electrode loosely socketed in the pawl-carrying bar will be separated from the fixed electrode, thus making a spark at the burner-tip by the rupture of the circuit. This will de-energize the magnet and so release the armature; but before the armature can move upward far enough to lift the pawl 71, attached to the pawl-carrying bar g, above the first recess the movable electrode will have again connected with the fixed electrode, restoring the circuit, so that the magnet becomes again energized, the armature again drawn down, and the circuit again ruptured, producing the spark. So long as the pressure continues upon the push-button by which the current is admitted from the battery to the magnet this operation must continue, making a series of igniting-sparks, and as during this time the pawl it cannot move above the recess the gascock will remain open and the gas of course lighted by the shower of sparks. Upon removing the finger or other pressure from the push-button the armature will be entirely released, the magnet being de-energized thererying-bar 9 above the recess. The spring 5, inserted in the slot or recess 4 in the bar g, and which extends diagonally across g to a point 6, will thereupon press the pawl it into a perpendicular position. Upon the magnet being again energized the pawl 72. will gear with the other recess, and thus tilt the gascock the other way, so as to turn 01f the gas, but by reason of the second recess is being not so deep as k the pawl-carrying bar gcannot be carried down far enough to cause the electrodes to separate, and consequently no spark will be made when the gas is thus turned ofi. As the pawl it rises out of the second recess the opposite fork of spring 5 will restore the pawl to a perpendicular position.

Having described my said improvement, what I claim is 1. In an electric gas-ligh ting device, in combination with the gas-pillar having a fixed having an enlarged recess 9 so arranged as to allow a greater movement to the pawl-carrying bar than to the armature-bar, substantially as described 2. In combination with an automatic electric gas-burner having a proper gas-tube, magnet, and armature, the recessed pawl-carrying bar 9, angle-piece 1, angle-pin 2, pawl h, block it, having the unequal recesses lo and I0 and. a cock actuated by said block, adapted and arranged substantially as described.

3. In an electric gas-lighting device, in combination with the gas-pillar having a fixed and a movable electrode, magnet, armature, pawlcarrying bar, a pawl for tilting the gascock, and a gas-cock, a V-shaped spring 5, supported on the pawl-carrying bar and controlling the pawl normally in a vertical position, substantially as described.

4'. In an electric gas-lighting device having a magnet for turning on and 0E the gas, whose coil is normally in circuit with the breaker-piece or movable electrode at the bu rner-tip, and having also an oscillating gascock operated by a pawl and having said breaker-piece and pawl, the combinatiomwith the armature, of an angle-piece 1, pin 2, pawl-carrying bar g, properly recessed at g, so as to allow a greaterrange of motion to the bar than to the armature, substantially as described.

5. In an electric gas-lighting device having a magnetfor turning on and off the gas, whose coil is normally in circuit with the breaker-piece or movable electrode at' the burner tip and having also said breaker-piece and an oscillating gas-cock operated by a pawl carried by a pawl-carrying bar controlled by the armature, the combination, with the pawl-carrying bar and pawl, of a V-shaped spring so adjusted as to normally retain said pawl in a vertical position, substantially as described.

I11 witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses, May 21, 1880.

THOMAS W. LANE.

.Witnesses:

NATHANIEL U. WALKER, EDWARD P. PAYSON. 

